Jackie Wilson

Singer

• Born: June 9, 1934
• Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan
• Died: January 21, 1984
• Place of death: Mount Holly, New Jersey

Wilson’s electrifying live performances and extraordinary vocal range made him one of the greatest American rhythm and blues singers. He influenced singers from Elvis Presley to Michael Jackson to Van Morrison and helped black music cross over into the mainstream.

Early Life

Jack Leroy Wilson, Jr., was born in Detroit, Michigan, on June 9, 1934, to an alcoholic father and a doting mother. Introduced to alcohol by his father before his ninth birthday, Wilson was alcohol- and drug-dependent for most of his life. By 1944, Jack, Sr., had abandoned the family. At twelve, Wilson joined the Ever Ready Gospel Singers, singing at churches and neighborhood events and gaining a large local following.

Wilson began associating with the Shakers, a local gang. He would entertain them by singing and they would protect him from other gangs. He rarely attended school and had numerous brushes with the law. He was twice sent to Lansing Correctional Institute, where he took up boxing. He entered the Golden Gloves program, but his mother made him quit and promise never to box again because it was too dangerous. Wilson dropped out of school at the age of sixteen, never having passed the ninth grade.

In 1951, Wilson married his pregnant girlfriend, Freda Hood. With a new family to support, he pursued his singing career more seriously.

Life’s Work

In 1951, Wilson and his cousin Levi Stubbs formed the Falcons. Then a local talent promoter, Johnny Otis, arranged for Wilson to join the Thrillers, a rhythm-and-blues group. They dropped Wilson just before signing a record deal as the Royals. In 1952, Wilson sang with Dizzy Gillespie, recording “Danny Boy.” This song, which Wilson rerecorded years later, was nothing like the material for which he was popular. However, his love for all music styles, ranging from opera to rock and roll, often led to eccentric recording choices.

In 1953, Wilson joined Billy Ward’s Dominoes as a backup singer for Clyde McPhatter. When McPhatter left a few months later, Wilson began singing lead. This relationship earned Wilson his first modest success with “You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down.” In 1956, he charted again with “St. Therese of the Roses.”

Wilson went solo in 1957; Nat Tarnopol signed him to Brunswick Records, a Decca subsidiary, and became his manager. Tarnopol introduced Wilson to Berry Gordy, Jr., and Roquel “Billy” Davis, with whom he produced nine hits including “Reet Petit” and “Lonely Teardrops,” one of his signature songs. Gordy and Davis broke up the partnership in 1958 because of problems with Tarnopol.

After the split, Wilson did not fare as well as the other producers. Many blame Tarnopol for mismanaging Wilson’s career and for producing poor records. Many of Wilson’s Brunswick albums used old-fashioned arrangements and were unsuccessful. A 1961 tribute album to Al Jolson, Wilson’s favorite singer, was a marked failure. However, he also recorded some hits from 1958 to 1964, including “Doggin’ Around,” “Alone at Last,” “Night” (a number-one hit), and another signature song, “Baby Workout.”

In 1961, while juggling extramarital affairs, Wilson was shot twice by Juanita Jones. He lost a kidney and lived the rest of his life with a bullet embedded near his spine. Other tragedies followed. Freda divorced him, and his son and daughter died, plunging him into depression and exacerbating his alcohol and drug abuse. He was audited by the Internal Revenue Service and lost his home. Despite making $260,000 a year, he found himself broke. In 1967, he married Harlean Harris, with whom he had three children; that marriage also failed. In 1967, he was arrested in South Carolina on a morals charge for being with a white woman.

Despite these problems, Wilson continued to record and perform. In the late 1960’s, he teamed with Chicago producer Carl Davis and released “Whispers (Gettin’ Louder)” and his international hit “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher.”

Although he continued to make records, Wilson was relegated to performing in oldies shows. During a performance on September 29, 1975, he suffered a heart attack, fell, and hit his head. He spent more than eight years in a coma. On January 21, 1984, Wilson died of pneumonia in a nursing home in Mount Holly, New Jersey. He was buried in an unmarked grave. In 1987, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1990, Wilson’s body was exhumed and reburied alongside his mother in Wayne, Michigan, in a mausoleum donated by fans.

Significance

Wilson was a leading soul performer for more than twenty years, producing twenty-four Top 40 singles, six number-one hits, and fifty-five Top 100 records. He was an international star whose perfect tenor and falsetto gave him a unique singing range. He was famous for his live performances, during which he danced around the stage in a frenzy, driving fans wild. His dancing style, which he said he stole from Elvis Presley, influenced James Brown, Michael Jackson, and Presley himself, among many others. Although his career was cut short, Wilson had a lasting influence on rhythm and blues.

Bibliography

Carter, Doug. The Black Elvis: Jackie Wilson. Berkeley, Calif.: Heydey Books, 1998. Compares the musical and performance styles of the two seminal singers.

Douglas, Tony. Jackie Wilson: Lonely Teardrops. New York: Routledge, 2005. This biography is based on interviews with Wilson’s colleagues, family, and friends.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Jackie Wilson: The Man, the Music, the Mob. Edinburgh, Scotland: Mainstream, 2001. Suggests that Wilson was cheated and mismanaged by Tarnopol. This source also details Wilson’s womanizing and addictions.

Pruter, Robert. Chicago Soul. Music in American Life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. This comprehensive look at Chicago-based soul music contains information about Wilson’s work with Carl Davis.